Arrangement of elements in a knitting machine

ABSTRACT

In a warp knitting machine for the production of double-faced pile loop fabrics in which warp threads and some of the weft threads form the base and other weft threads form the pile, the machine having cast-off sinkers in the form of rear pile loop holders, hold-down sinkers in the form of front pile loop holders, knitting needles for the base threads mounted for reciprocation between the pile loop holders, front and rear pile thread guide bars, weft guides on the front side of the needles between the pile loop holders, recesses formed in the pile loop holders and pressure sinkers guided in said recesses for reciprocation substantially perpendicularly to the shafts of the needles, the improvement in which the pressure sinkers are arranged between the weft guides and the front pile thread guide bar, the front pile loop holders each have the recess for guiding the respective pressure sinkers and the pressure sinkers are guided in the recesses in the front pile loop holders.

United States Patent [1 1 Lindner [451 Oct. 21, 1975 ARRANGEMENT OF ELEMENTS IN A KNITTING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Heinz Lindner, Geyer, Germany [22] Filed: June 24, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 482,826

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 22, 1973 Germany ..171745 [52] US. Cl 66/84 R [51] Int. Cl. B04B 23/06 [58] Field of Search 66/83, 84, 85, 90, 91, 66/87, 88, 109

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,707,853 1/1973 Lindner et al. 66/84 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,538,480 7/1968 France 66/84 R Primary ExaminerRonald Feldbaum Attorney, Agent, or FirmNolte and Nolte [57] ABSTRACT In a warp knitting machine for the production of double-faced pile loop fabrics in which warp threads and some of the weft threads form the base and other weft threads form the pile, the machine having cast-off sinkers in the form of rear pile loop holders, holddown sinkers in the form of front pile loop holders, knitting needles for the base threads mounted for reciprocation between the pile loop holders, front and rear pile thread guide bars, weft guides on the front side of the needles between the pile loop holders, recesses formed in the pile loop holders and pressure sinkers guided in said recesses for reciprocation substantially perpendicularly to the shafts of the needles, the improvement in which the pressure sinkers are arranged between the weft guides and the front pile thread guide bar, the front pile loop holders each have the recess for guiding the respective pressure sinkers and the pressure sinkers are guided in the recesses in the front pile loop holders.

9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Sheet 2 of 3 3,913,355

US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 U. S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet30f3 3,913,355

Fig. 3

ARRANGEMENT OF ELEMENTS IN A KNITTING MACHINE The invention relates to an improvement in warp knitting machines for'the production of double-faced pile loop knit fabrics in which warp threads and some of the weft threads form the base and other weft threads form the pile. The machines are of the type having cast-off sinkers designed as rear pile loop holders and holding-down sinkers designed as front pile loop holders, knitting needles for the base threads mounted for reciprocation, weft guides provided on the front side of the needles between the pile loop holders and pressure sinkers guided in recesses of the pile loop holders and moving substantially perpendicularly to the needle shaft for depositing the wefts.

In known machines of this type, the pressure sinkers are arranged between the weft guides and the rear pile thread guide bar, and the rear pile loop holders usually have a recess extending along their own axis, in which the pressure sinkers are guided perpendicularly toward the needles. It is also known that the recess is continuous and the pressure sinkers have a fillet engaging the recess of the pile loop holders, which presses the rear pile loops under the needle.

The prior art machine has substantial disadvantages. During the movement of the needles into their frontmost position, the knitting is pressed toward the front pile loop holder. The pressure sinker, which is guided in the rear pile loop holder, must be held spaced from the front pile loop holder in order to avoid collisions. It thus happens that wefts are not engaged by the pressure sinker, and defects, known as reed marks, appear in the product. In order to keep these defects at a minimum, sidewise displacement of the weft guides was effected when the pressure sinker was above the wefts extending from the weft guides to the fabric being knit. This had the result that very little time was available for the sideways displacement of the weft guides. The working speed of the machine had to be substantially reduced.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

According to the present invention, there is provided a design and arrangement of the pressure sinkers and pile loop holders relative to the weft guides which permits the starting of sidewise displacement of the weft guides as soon as the pressure sinkers move toward the needles but does not hinder access to the weft guides. In particular, the pressure sinkers are arranged between the weft guides and the front pile thread guide bar and the recess for guiding the pressure sinker is provided in the front pile loop holder. In order to be able to guide the front pile loop holder under the needle, the recess is an opening extending along the axis of the front pile loop holers and guiding the pressure sinkers, the latter having a second fillet outside the pile loop holder. 1

Another feature of the invention is that the pressure sinkers have on their working edge downwardly directed hold-down noses, extending substantially parallel to the pile loop holders, which keep the hold-down and cast-off conditions constant during a variation of the distance to the pile loop holders.

It is of particular advantage according to the invention that the part of each pressure sinker between the rear and front pile loop holders engages in its topmost position recesses between the weft guides and that the fillet of each pressure sinker be aligned with the outlet opening of the respective weft guide in the direction of motion of the threads toward a common plane. The weft guides are preferably equipped with pointed eye needles.

In order not to impair the neatarrangement and accessibility to the weft guides, the pressure sinkers are guided at least in the part of the pile loop holders projecting from the mount and are practically completely enclosed. The pile loop holder can have a U-shaped cross section the back of which is interrupted in proximity to the stitch-forming zone. Furthermore, it is advantageous that the mount of the weft guides be slidingly guided in a recess of the bearing for the rear pile loop holders, being locked against motion in the longitudinal direction of the machine by its shape and the shape of the recess.

Different pile heights can be obtained selectively if the front pile loop holders are adjustable or controllable in the axial direction of the needles. The front and rear pile loops are always of equal length.

Other advantages of the invention, in addition to the solution of the above mentioned problems, are that the output of the machine can be increased and the production costs for the machine are reduced. Also, different pile heights can be obtained without changing the pile loop holders.

The invention will now be described by reference to a specific embodiment as illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly sectional, schematic side view of the stitch-forming elements according to the present invention and the threads engaged-thereby;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the stitchforming elements of FIG. 1 andv the threads engaged thereby;

and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail from FIG. 1 with. the threads not included in order that the stitch-forming elements appear more clearly. I

The warp knitting machine, in particular, a Galon crocheting machine, is equipped with horizontally arranged hooked needles 1 moving in the same direction, the hooks of each of which needles can be closed by a respective closing wire 2. At right angles thereto are arranged top-mounted pile loop holders 3, 4 which extend between the hooked needles 1. The rear pile loop holders 3 form the cast-off means, while the front pile loop holders 4 or the hold-down nose 20, as illustrated in FIG. 3, assumes the function of a hold-down edge.

Between a bearing 5 for the rear pile loop holders 3 and a bearing 6 for the front pile loop holders 4 is guided a weft guide bar 7 for displacement along the needle row, preferably on the bearing 5 of the rear pile loop holder 3. The weft guide bar 7 is equipped with pointed eye needles the thread outlet opening of each of which is arranged between the cast-off means 3a and hold-down edge 4a and the hold-down-nose 20. The front pile loop holder 4 has in its upper part a U-shaped cross section. In the range of the stitch-forming zone, it is tapered and the rear wall is interrupted. At the bottom end the free ends thus formed are connected with each other. Each pressure sinker 9 slides in the recess of the front pile loop holder 4 substantially perpendicularly to the hooked needles 1. Each pressure sinker 9 has at its bottom end a rearwardly and downwardly directed extension 10 which extends at least into the vicinity of the outlet opening of a respective pointed eye needle 8 and can have a hold-down nose 20.

The pressure sinkers 9 are secured on a rail 11 which performs a vertically reciprocating movement. Between the rear pile loop holders 3 and the hooked needles 1 is arranged the rear pile thread guide bar 12 which performs, in addition to a displacement over two sinker spacings, also a displacement in the direction of I the arrow between the hooked needles 1. Ahead of the front pile loop holders 4 is arranged close to the path of the front bottom edge of the pressure sinkers 9 the front pile thread guide bar 13. The latter performs only a displacement movement over the needle spacings. The guide bar 14 supplies the ground thread, is displaced as a rule over one sinker spacing, and swings through the needle row when the hooked needles I are in their frontmost position.

In describing the sequence of operations of the apparatus, it is convenient to start from the position illustrated in FIG. 1.

The hooked needles 1 are in the cast-off position. The rear pile thread guide bar 12 swings the pile thread after the displacement through the needle row to the stitch of the base thread 15 and under the hooked needles 1. At about the same time the pressure sinkers press the wefts 17 prelaid by the weft guide bar 7 and the pile threads 18 guided by the pile thread laying bar 13 under the needle path. While the hooked needles are driven out into their frontmost position, all pile threads 16 and 18, as well as the weft threads 17, move behind the needle back.

Since the fabric being knit, and thus also the weft threads 17, are pressed against the hold-down edge 4a and/or the hold-down nose while the hooked needles 1 are driven out into their frontmost position and there is no distance in the direction of motion between the pressure sinkers 9 and the hold-down edge 4a or hold-down nose 20, this apparatus can positively prevent the weft threads 17 from moving to the hook side of the hooked needles 1, which could lead to defective interlacings and breakage of the threads.

The pressure sinkers 9 remain in the bottom position until the point of the hooked needles covers the frontmost pile thread 18. At this time the sideways displacement of the weft guide bar 7 can begin. During the ascending movement of the pressure sinkers 9 the newly supplied weft threads 17 slide over the extensions 10 and arrive thus again in the vicinity of the'fillet of the pressure sinkers 9. In the raised position the fillet of the pressure sinkers 9 is directly above the thread outlet opening of the pointed eye needles 8, the extension 10 being in the free space between the pointed eye needles 8.

In order to prevent the extension 10 of the pressure sinker 9 from engaging thread portions which extend from the pointed eye needles 8 in the direction of the take up roller (not illustrated), additional guide means 19 for the weft threads 17 are provided on the weft guide bar 7 at a distance from the pointed eye needles 8, which ensure that the weft threads 17 are always aligned above the pointed eye needles 8 substantially at right angles to the axis of the weft guide bar 7.

While the invention has been described by reference to a particular preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit of the invention are intended to be encompassed by the appended claims. Thus, for example, the pointed eye needles 8 could be replaced by thread guiding tubes. i

What is claimed is: U I

1. In a warp knitting machine for the production of double-faced pile loop fabrics in which warp threads and some of the weft threads form the base and other weft threads form the pile, the machine having cast-off sinkers in the form of rear pile loop holders, hold-down sinkers in the form of front pile loop holders, knitting needles for the base threads mounted for reciprocation between the pile loop holders, front and rear pile thread guide bars, weft guides on the front side of ne'edles between the pile loop holders, recesses formed in the pile loop holders and pressure sinkers guided in said recesses for reciprocation substantially perpendicularly to the shafts of the needles, the improvement in which the pressure sinkers are arranged between the weft guides and the front pile thread guide bar, the front pile loop holders each have the recess for guiding the respective pressure sinkers and the pressure sinkers are guided in the recesses in the front pile loop holders.

2. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 1 in which the recesses in the front pile loop holders are continuous, provided on each of the pressure sinkers is a fillet, the fillet engaging the recess of a respective pile loop holder and pressing the weft threads under the needles, in the improvement in which on each pressure sinker outside the front pile loop holder is formed a second fillet.

3. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 2, in the improvement in which provided on the working edge of each pressure sinker and arranged substantially parallel to the pile loop holders is a downwardly directed hold-down nose.

4. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 3, in the improvement in which each pressure sinker includes an extension which in the topmost position of the pressure sinker is inserted between a respective pair of the weft guides and a fillet is provided on the pressure sinker, said weft guides having openings in which the weft threads are guided and from which the weft threads advance, said fillet being aligned with said openings in a direction of motion of the threads toward a common plane.

5. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 4, in the improvement in which the weft guides comprise pointed eye needles.

6. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 5, the improvement in which further comprises mounting means for the front pile loop holder, said front pile loop holder being suspended from the mounting means and projecting downwardly from the mounting means, the pressure sinkers being guided in at least the projecting part of front pile loop holder.

7. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 6, in the improvement in which the front pile loop holder has a U-shaped cross-section the closed portion of which is open in the vicinity of the zone in which the knitting needles form stitches.

8. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 7, the improvement in which further comprises a weft guide bar mounting the weft guides and means mounting the rear pile loop holders, the weft guide bar being mounted on the rear pile loop holders slidingly in the longitudinal direction of the machine.

9. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 8, in the improvement in which the front pile loop holder is adjustable parallel to the axes of the knitting needles. 

1. In a warp knitting machine for the production of double-faced pile loop fabrics in which warp threads and some of the weft threads form the base and other weft threads form the pile, the machine having cast-off sinkers in the form of rear pile loop holders, hold-down sinkers in the form of front pile loop holders, knitting needles for the base threads mounted for reciprocation between the pile loop holders, front and rear pile thread guide bars, weft guides on the front side of needles between the pile loop holders, recesses formed in the pile loop holders and pressure sinkers guided in said recesses for reciprocation substantially perpendicularly to the shafts of the needles, the improvement in which the pressure sinkers are arranged between the weft guides and the front pile thread guide bar, the front pile loop holders each have the recess for guiding the respective pressure sinkers and the pressure sinkers are guided in the recesses in the front pile loop holders.
 2. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 1 in which the recesses in the front pile loop holders are continuous, provided on each of the pressure sinkers is a fillet, the fillet engaging the recess of a respective pile loop holder and pressing the weft threads under the needles, in the improvement in which on each pressure sinker outside the front pile loop holder is formed a second fillet.
 3. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 2, in the improvement in which provided on the working edge of each pressure sinker and arranged substantially parallel to the pile loop holders is a downwardly directed hold-down nose.
 4. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 3, in the improvement in which each pressure sinker includes an extension which in the topmost position of the pressure sinker is inserted between a respective pair of the weft guides and a fillet is provided on the pressure sinker, said weft guides having openings in which the weft threads are guided and from which the weft threads advance, said fillet being aligned with said openings in a direction of motion of the threads toward a common plane.
 5. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 4, in the improvement in which the weft guides comprise pointed eye needles.
 6. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 5, the improvement in which further comprises mounting means for the front pile loop holder, said front pile loop holder being suspended from the mounting means and projecting downwardly from the mounting means, the pressure sinkers being guided in at least the projecting part of front pile loop holder.
 7. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 6, in the improvement in which the front pile loop holder has a U-shaped cross-section the closed portion of which is open in the vicinity of the zone in which the knitting needles form stitches.
 8. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 7, the improvement in which further comprises a weft guide bar mounting the weft guides and means mounting the rear pile loop holders, the weft guide bar being mounted on the rear pile loop holders slidingly in the longitudinal direction of the machine.
 9. In a warp knitting machine according to claim 8, in the improvement in which the front pile loop holder is adjustable parallel to the axes of the knitting needles. 